In the late 1960's the educational literature reported the
emergence of a distinct kind of public school labeled "alternative."
This term was used to describe a variety of school programs. Within
this group of schools were several which claimed to offer students
opportunities for individual and collective decision making and use of
the community as a learning resource.
The purpose of this study was to examine five such public
secondary alternative schools, the perceptions of students concerning
these opportunities, and their responses to these opportunities.
The research questions for the study were:
1. Do students in the five schools see these schools offering
all students opportunities to make decisions (a) individually concerning
their learning and (b) as a group concerning the governance of the
school as the schools' literature purports?
2. Do students in the five schools see these schools offering
all students opportunities to use the community as a learning resource?
3. How important were the opportunities to make individual
learning decisions and use the community as a learning resource in
students' decisions to attend the alternative school?
4. Given these opportunities, what choices did a sampling of
students actually make?
The methods of data collection were:
1. a review of each school's literature to document the opportunities
reported available;
2. researcher observations of selected activities and the
environments of the five schools;
3. a questionnaire developed by the researcher voluntarily
completed by the students;
4. interviews with students who had completed the questionnaire;
and
5. interviews with a staff person in each of the five schools.
Students' responses were reported in the form of actual numbers,
percentages, and mean scores.
The opportunities for individual decision making to be examined
were those the schools' literature reported were available: (1) grade
options, (2) independent study, and (3) evaluation of courses and
instructors. All schools reported that some type of all-school meeting
was involved in the governance of the school. Students reported the
mechanics of the meetings and the range of authority of the meetings.
Schools reported use of outside speakers and community persons
in the schools and the opportunity for students to take outside learning
activities. Students were asked to describe the extent to which these opportunities were available and the types of outside learning activities
they pursued.
The conclusions of the study were:
1. The opportunities to make learning decisions and use the
community as a learning resource were important factors in students'
decisions to attend; however, "other" factors such as peer pressure
within their former schools and better student-teacher relationships in
the alternative school were also important.
2. Students reported that they had a range of grade options,
opportunities for independent study, and for evaluation of their courses
and instructors.
3. Students knew that their schools had all-school meetings, but
they were generally confused regarding the meeting's authority on a
variety of issues.
4. Students perceived that they had the opportunity to use the
community as a learning resource.
5. Although students reported having the opportunity to make
learning decisions, over half the students did not take independent
study. Almost as many reported that they did not take an outside
learning activity.
6. Those who did take independent study and outside learning
activities did so in a quarter or less of their courses.
7. The types of outside learning activities which students
pursued varied.
Students came to the alternative school partly because of the
opportunities that the schools claimed to offer them. Students perceived
generally that they had the opportunities which the schools claimed to offer. Some students participated in all activities; some participated
selectively; some did not use any of the opportunities available